'Top notch': The Responder star hails Scouse trait as she shares favourite thing about Liverpool

Adelayo Adedayo spoke to the ECHO about The Responder season two
Adelayo Adedayo spoke to the ECHO about The Responder season two -Credit:Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo


The Responder's Adelayo Adedayo heaped praise on Liverpool as she shared her favourite things about filming in the city.

The star has reprised her role as Rachel Hargreaves for the second series of the acclaimed BBC crime drama. The show has once again received wall to wall five star reviews and Adelayo told the ECHO it is special to be involved in such a smash hit success.

She said: "It feels like a part of TV history." She added: "It's really nice to do a job, feel really proud of it, feel like you've been part of something good, then walk away, give it to the world and they respond to it [in this way]."

READ MORE: The Responder creator Tony Schumacher hit rock bottom before taxi ride changed life forever

READ NEXT: 'Liverpool has taken show to its heart': The Responder's Martin Freeman 'still talking Scouse' as he shares city's impact

Adelayo has been singled out for praise for her powerful performance during tough storylines as Rachel continues to suffer in the second season after being in an abusive relationship. The 35-year-old jumped at the opportunity to return to the role and said it is important to tell the character's truth: "You can chip away and always find more as there's so many layers to Rachel.

"She's flawed and she's not perfect. I definitely bring parts of myself to Rachel in terms of always wanting to just do a good job of things and be the best you can.

"It's just unfortunately with the situation that she's in, no matter what her intentions are, things just keep going wrong. Sometimes it's her fault and sometimes it's circumstance. It just feels like she's drowning."

In the show, Rachel hails from Warrington and Adelayo worked with a dialect coach to perfect the accent as the TV star is originally from Dagenham. The Responder is proudly Liverpudlian and Adelayo said it is a testament to the writing of show creator, Tony Schumacher, that she immediately understood all the local references in the script.

She said: "When writing is that good I don't struggle to learn lines. I can look at that page a couple of times and it goes in immediately. There's a conversation and the dialogue feels like a natural progression.

"You can kind of grasp what the person is saying. When I listen to Marco and Casey's dialogue I don't ever have any problem understanding them even though they're speaking in slang."

Although she didn't need to be taught any of the slang, Adelayo said there was one thing about how Liverpudlians speak she particularly enjoyed. She said: "I quite liked it that you can say lad and you can say la. I really like la, it feels really endearing."

Season one of The Responder was filmed when lockdown restrictions were in force and Adelayo said she loved being able to experience the city properly during the production of the second series when it felt "alive again". The TV star said she loved the welcoming nature of Scousers as she said: "Everyone's energy was just warm. We didn't have any bad experiences.

"Everyone is just really nice. You get off the train and people say hello. It's just a really lovely city to be in."

However, the TV star said her favourite thing about staying in the city was the food, which she hailed as "top notch". Adelayo was particularly impressed with much-loved restaurants, Maray and Belzan as she added: "The food scene is just stunning." She laughed: "I was probably in Maray twice a week. They knew me by the end of the shoot."

The Responder continues tonight at 9pm on BBC One

Receive newsletters with the biggest and breaking TV and showbiz news by signing up here

Get the ECHO's Klopp Liverpool FC souvenir special for £4.99